Ran C&C for four young people over the holiday

[AnthonyRoberson]

I ran a C&C game for my two daughters (age 19 and 22) and their boyfriends over the holiday. Only my oldest daughter's boyfriend had ever played an RPG. The party was composed as follows:

Nick - Human Ranger
Ashlee - Human Cleric
Derek - Human Fighter
Anslee - Human Wizard

The setup was simple. The PCs were all residents of the tiny village of Bywater. Most of the village's men had been called away to fight in the 'border wars'. The viillage elder called the PCs together to look for a young shepherd boy that had vanished in the night from the field to the north of the village.

The party gathered their equipment and rushed to the field. The Ranger made his tracking rolls and they followed the trail to an old watch tower on a bare hill. I described the tower and asked them what they wanted to do. They said "we walk up to the tower door". I said "really?" but they didn't take the hint.

A couple of crossbow shots from the goblin sentries on the second floor later and the fighter was badly hurt. The Cleric managed to partially heal him and the party bashed the tower door in after a couple of failed rolls.

The goblins stationed on the first floor were ready but the Wizard cast Sleep and took them out. The heroic Ranger slit the throats of all but one Goblin, tying him up for later interrogation. The PCs tnen made their way up to the second floor.

The goblin sentries were barricaded behind some boxes but some lucky rolls and reckless tactics left them dead with the fighter wounded again. The sheperd boy was nowhere to be found so the party made their way back downstairs.

A quick interrogation revealed the goblin spoke no common so the Ranger made the decision that they would drag him back to town. More later...

[Relaxo]

Sounds cool!
I like, "really?" LOL.

How'd they like the mechanics of the game? Or was it more like, "what do you do? Ok, roll that one... ok it worked" and move on in narrative?

Good to get the youth playing! WTG!

[Omote]

I love these kinds of gaming stories.

~O

[AnthonyRoberson]

Sounds cool!
I like, "really?" LOL.

How'd they like the mechanics of the game? Or was it more like, "what do you do? Ok, roll that one... ok it worked" and move on in narrative?

Good to get the youth playing! WTG!

I ran the game RAW for the most part. I asked each player what they wanted to do, told them what die to roll and why they were rolling it. The C&C mechanics are blissfully unobtrusive and the game flowed well.

I hadn't run for a group of newbies in a long time and what shocked me most was their utter lack of good adventuring skills. They failed to loot bodies, thoroughly search rooms and even almst split the party at one point (and would have if they had more than one light source.)

[Relaxo]

sounds like it's time for a wily, seasoned old rogue to join the party... they're missing one of the 'four food groups'.

That's a gentler teaching tool than massive slaughter, LOL. Or more subtle, is after they get back to town, some other NPC strolls into the pub, "Hey, look! I found a nice new sword and a ton of gold on these dead goblins outside town! I even found a magic scroll hidden in one of their rooms! can you believe no one looked for this stuff? Let's have a round on me! Whoo hoo!" That might give them the hint.

Also, maybe you can have them read this:
http://www.lulu.com/product/file-downlo ... ng/3159558

[Lobo316]

That is AWSOME. I have three kids ages 8, 13 and 16 and my 16 year old has a boyfriend. I really need to run an old school game one night and see how they like it.

And yes, it is amazing how we take for granted things like searching bodies, looking for secret doors, scouring rooms for hidden items. Really takes you back to when you were new when you read something like this.

And agreed..."Really" = priceless.

Well done!

[mabon5127]

I ran a C&C game for my two daughters (age 19 and 22) and their boyfriends over the holiday. Only my oldest daughter's boyfriend had ever played an RPG. The party was composed as follows:

Nick - Human Ranger
Ashlee - Human Cleric
Derek - Human Fighter
Anslee - Human Wizard

The setup was simple. The PCs were all residents of the tiny village of Bywater. Most of the village's men had been called away to fight in the 'border wars'. The viillage elder called the PCs together to look for a young shepherd boy that had vanished in the night from the field to the north of the village.

The party gathered their equipment and rushed to the field. The Ranger made his tracking rolls and they followed the trail to an old watch tower on a bare hill. I described the tower and asked them what they wanted to do. They said "we walk up to the tower door". I said "really?" but they didn't take the hint.

A couple of crossbow shots from the goblin sentries on the second floor later and the fighter was badly hurt. The Cleric managed to partially heal him and the party bashed the tower door in after a couple of failed rolls.

The goblins stationed on the first floor were ready but the Wizard cast Sleep and took them out. The heroic Ranger slit the throats of all but one Goblin, tying him up for later interrogation. The PCs tnen made their way up to the second floor.

The goblin sentries were barricaded behind some boxes but some lucky rolls and reckless tactics left them dead with the fighter wounded again. The sheperd boy was nowhere to be found so the party made their way back downstairs.

A quick interrogation revealed the goblin spoke no common so the Ranger made the decision that they would drag him back to town. More later...

Interesting age group to run with particularly since they were newbies. I do applaud the fact that your daughters want you to run for them and their boyfriends as well. You are a lucky (or just plain great) dad! Had you run games for your daughters when they were younger?

[AnthonyRoberson]

Interesting age group to run with particularly since they were newbies. I do applaud the fact that your daughters want you to run for them and their boyfriends as well. You are a lucky (or just plain great) dad! Had you run games for your daughters when they were younger?

I tried to when they were younger but they said it was too 'nerdy'. I think they mainly agreed to it this time because my oldest daughter's boyfriend had played before. I think we all had a good time though and my youngest daughter's boyfriend seemed to really get into the 'bash the door in and hit stuff with my sword' side of things.

[AnthonyRoberson]

Part two....

The PCs drug the captured goblin back to the village and found an old dwarven blacksmith that knew how to speak goblin. Using the dwarf as translator, the Ranger asked where the shepherd boy was. The goblin answered "still in the basement I guess..." The players all looked at me and then at each other with a "DOH!" look on their faces. Enraged, the Ranger slit the goblin's throat and shouted "WE RUSH BACK TO THE TOWER".

Back at the tower, the PCs quickly found the trap door leading to the basement. The Wizard cast light on a burnt out torch and they ventured down. A short time later they came to a T intersection and debated whether or not to split the party. The Fighter said "II'm not going anywhere without a light" so they all chose to go right...

The corridor finally ended in a dimly lit chamber. I described a scene with a goblin shaman dancing around a fire while two huge wolves stood guard nearby. Roasting on a spit over the fire was a tiny arm. Fearing the worst, the party leaped into battle and slaughtered the goblin and the wolves. The Ranger actually remembered to loot the shaman and found some gold and two scrolls. The PCs also found the bleeding, one-armed shepherd boy cowering in a cage. The Cleric did what she could to heal him and the party headed back home.

The villagers met the PCs and expressed both anguish and relief. It was getting late though so I ended things there.

[Relaxo]

That sounds GREAT!

"DOH!" too funny.
Actually, it's perfect! They're really capturing the nievete (seplling?) that 1st level characters who have never adventured before would have.

[DMMike]

I hadn't run for a group of newbies in a long time and what shocked me most was their utter lack of good adventuring skills. They failed to loot bodies, thoroughly search rooms and even almst split the party at one point (and would have if they had more than one light source.)

...and if they had?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waa2ucfg ... re=related


DM Mike

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Great story! It's always good to see the next generation being brought into the hobby by a GM who cares enough about the game and the players to treat them to an experience like this. Bravo!